Figured out how to secure the mast at the partners. The rear chock now is ornamented by two bits of aluminium:

• A plate on the bottom at the back to stop the back rising when the chock is pulled towards the mast;
• A lashing point on the top of the block.

In use it works like this:

This is quick and easy to set up and very secure. I can lift the bows of the boat by pulling on a line to the mast top without any sign of the mast or chocks moving. As with all these things, once you figure out how to solve the problem it is easy and obvious.

Update 26/10/2023

I found that the block had a tendency to tilt and jam over the course of a few days, so now I leave the block out and just lash the mast to the front support. This doesn’t look as nice but works fine.

Got the mast strengthener in today. I was assuming that it would just slide in; however it jammed after a bit probably due to grit somewhere. Every time I took it out and cleaned it up (filing off the scratches) it jammed again, so I hammered it in using a wooden mallet. Fortunately it went all the way in without jamming completely. Phew.

I put the mast foot back on with locktite thread lock on the screws – I don’t want them coming out under sail.

Made the turning block to redirect the lines from the mast back to the helm.

Obviously the screw heads need to be aligned, and I need to figure out how to attach it to the tabernacle. Otherwise very happy with this!

I’ve made some more bits for the mast:

I’ve started fitting the mast to the hull. First off the heel fitting.

Update 26/10/2023:

Please note that the Wanderer hog probably isn’t strong enough to take the loads of a free-standing mast, and the consequences of failure could be extreme (death, severe injury). I’ve left this page here for historical interest, but please see my later pages for details on reinforcing the mast foot.

Right – time for a deep breath. This is where the designs become reality. First stage is check the design to get it as good as possible.

Mast head

The topmast tube needs to be extended a bit for the mast head fitting. The length for the stress calculations remains the same – 5.6m – but the overall length is a bit longer to allow for the masthead bung and the loops for the masthead blocks

Topmast

The main 2 3/4″ x 10swg tube is heavy when 5m long. To make the mast lighter where it counts I tweaked the topmast length and made it a bit longer and the main tube shorter. The trade off is that this reduces the strength at the base of the topmast. This should be ok as some of the load is distributed over the length of the mast plus as soon as the sail is reefed the load in the topmast decreases dramatically.

Mast foot

I’ve tweaked the design of the foot. The main tube (2 3/4″ x 10swg) will go all the way down to the heel fitting. The strengthener will stop a bit above the heel fitting. Theoretically the strengthener could stop at 395mm above the heel, but in practice I’m going to take it down to 100mm above the heel. The primary reason is that I want lots of strength at the mast pivot point.

Mast pivot

The Wanderer features a tabernacle with a pivot that makes putting the mast up much easier – a one-person job. Given that it will just be me on my own putting the mast up it makes sense to keep this feature. The similar GP14 without a pivot requires two people to put the mast up safely.

The issue is where to put the pivot on the mast tube. Drilling a hole through the tube is by far the simplest route but will weaken the mast in a highly stressed location. Ideally the pivot should be clamped to the mast but this raises other issues:

• The mast might hit bits of boat as it goes up and down. Clearance in the hull was designed for a centre-pivot.
• It is a lot more work unless I can think of a clever way to do it.

I’m going to reinforce the mast at the pivot point with some internal Scots Pine. This shouldn’t be too hard to do and means if I need to drill right through it should be strong enough. I need to have a play with a section of tube in the boat to find out how it will all fit together.